Fern gently placed Rui on the ground at the end of the fork in the road, next to the rock wall next to her, so that she could withstand some wind and snow, and then covered her with a cloak. The mercenary then leans on Stan's side with relief, both of whom have been hit hard by the Stone Man, and Stan is more serious, after all, he has been hit directly, so even carrying Rui to this temporary resting place has to be done by Fern, although it is also a painful errand for Fern.

Ness is treating Stan, and the mage has almost exhausted her mental power to restrain the Stoneman's movements, and the Stoneman's strength is so strong that sealing its legs is almost beyond her ability. At this time, she can only use the ring to temporarily improve her mental strength and relieve the pain of her companions.

A yellowish glow from Ness's hand shrouded Stan's chest, and the knight was completely immobile against the rock wall, with congealed blood remaining on his mouth. "Stan, you seem to be badly injured. ”

"He hurt his internal organs, and no matter what, his internal injuries must be healed. Fern kept rubbing his chest.

Ness increased her mana, and the light in her hand brightened. As Stan's breathing subsides, and his face twisted in pain unfolds, Ness's healing is complete. The mage wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and sat down on the floor with difficulty, but she hadn't forgotten that there was still someone in need of her healing.

"Fern, wait a minute, let me regain a little mental strength. Ness looked at Fern apologetically.

Fern just waved his hand. "It's okay, I'm fine, it's just a trauma, you can take a good rest. ”

Stan's internal injuries have healed, and his injuries have healed quite a bit, and he is now able to talk to his companions. "What's wrong with her, she's been unconscious. ”

Ness glanced at where Rui was lying. "She summoned the demon of the Shadow Plane and borrowed its powers, this magic was very mentally draining and very dangerous, but luckily the battle ended before it was completely out of control, and now she just needs to rest. ”

"Completely out of control, what happens if that?" Fern rubbed his arm, frowning at pain.

Ness pursed her lips and put her hood on. "I don't know much about shadow magic, but in my guess, there will only be two outcomes, one of which could be that Rui was devoured by the shadow she summoned and imprisoned in the shadow plane, or the demon she summoned from the shadow would remain in our plane forever, and of course, we in its vicinity would definitely be the first target of its attack. ”

Fern exhaled heavily. "We must not allow either of these two possibilities to materialize, shadow magic is terrifying. ”

"Actually, not only shadow magic, but also quest magic will turn back on the mage, if the mage uses too much magic beyond his own ability. Ness didn't know if it was because of the cold or because of fear, and her body trembled slightly. "Of course, if you only use magic that exceeds your ability for a short period of time, it will not form a backlash, and this is also the only chance for most mages to defeat enemies stronger than themselves, but if you stay in this state for a long time, then even archmages will not be able to resist the backlash of magic. Rui had already reached a tipping point just now, and if the battle lasted a little longer...... "Ness didn't dare to say any more.

Fern nodded. "Anyway, we escaped, now we can find a place to hide from the wind and snow and have a good rest, until we are fully recovered, and if we continue to move forward, it will be tantamount to death. ”

Although they had just escaped, everyone realized that it was impossible for them to regain the third Seal from Adeline in their current situation.

"You're right, but we can't rest for too long. Stan sits up, his hands resting on his crossed legs. "In my experience, this snow is not going to stop anytime soon, and if we are to fully recover, it will not be possible in three or five days, in which case we will not have enough food. ”

Fern sighed and looked out at the barren mountains around him that were all but rocks and demon grass. "This is indeed a problem, neither advance nor retreat, let me think again......" The mercenary suddenly remembered someone. "Maybe there's some progress there, and if Rui's guess is correct, she might get the Holy Seal, and we've got all the attention. ”

Speaking of Queay, a hint of jealousy flashed across Ness's face, and she was glad that her face was buried in her hood and Fern couldn't see it. The cold, combined with the excessive consumption of mental power, made the mage shiver. Ness felt the chill creep through every crevice of her clothes, and she tightened her cloak, revealing her slender figure.

Fern looked at Ness's frozen appearance, his eyes filled with pity. "You guys rest a little longer, and I'll look around for a cave where I can rest. With that, the mercenary stood up with grinning teeth, as if his whole body was about to fall apart.

"Then I'll look in that direction, I think I can walk. Stan stands up as well. "There shouldn't be any danger here, find a place to take refuge from the cold as soon as possible, and stay here any longer, I'm afraid we'll all freeze to death before the food is finished." ”

Fern nodded in agreement, and the mercenary looked at Niss. "If there's a situation, shout, we're in the neighborhood and won't go far. ”

Ness didn't look up, and Fern couldn't see the mage's face buried in the hood, only the hooded head twitched, and the slender body trembling uncontrollably. Fern took off his cloak, wrapped it around Ness's back, draped it over her shoulders, and slowly walked away. A warmth filled the mage's body, not only in the body, but also in the heart, and Ness's eyes blurred.

Three hours later, the group arrived outside the cave that Stan had found, small enough to fit four people, and they didn't have time to find a wider cave, as it was getting dark, and Rui had been lying in the snow, still not waking up.

This time, Stan carried Rui on his back and first went into the cave, the roof of which was so low that the knight had to crouch and put Rui in the innermost part of the cave, and then lean against the wall to make a little gap for Ness to get into. Ness sat down beside Ray, took off Fern's cloak and handed it to Stan, then kept breathing hot air into both hands, hoping that their frozen hands would be able to regain consciousness.

Fern endured the pain and thrust the sword in the cave wall, then took the cloak from Stan's hand and hung it at the entrance of the cave. The cold wind and snowflakes were kept out of the cave, and the cave gradually warmed up.

"We ran out of firewood, and we couldn't find any trees to make a fire, which meant we couldn't drink hot tea, we couldn't eat hot food, and we couldn't even drink water. Fern leaned to the side and raised the water bladder in his hand, which had frozen into a lump of ice. "It's not easy to melt it. ”

"I can't feel the fire elemental here at all, I can't cast fire magic unless it's a human fire, or I can use fire magic to try to boil the water. Ness was tightly wrapped in her cloak and no longer trembled.

"We can try to light the Demon Grass, although it makes me sick to think about its origin. Stan wrinkles his nose and pulls out flint and velvet.

"Let's go find some, try to find grass that has withered and yellowed, otherwise the smoke will be too big, and of course even the grass will have a lot of smoke. Fern nodded at Stan, and the two crouched to their feet and crawled out of the cave.

Sitting in the cave, Niss tried to summon the fire elemental several times, but nothing responded. The mage leaned against the wall in frustration, and the hole was missing Fern and Stan, and it was starting to get cold again. Rui was still unconscious, and Ness touched her forehead, and there was no problem, so she calmed down.

It was already completely dark, the temperature was gradually decreasing, the cave was dark, the cold and loneliness invaded Ness's heart, and the mage bent his legs, hugged his knees tightly, and buried his chin in his knees. There was a sound of footsteps coming from afar, and Ness's heart brightened, expecting either one of Fern or Stan to burrow into the cave, preferably both of them together. But when the footsteps reached the entrance of the cave, they did not come in immediately, but stopped outside the entrance, and then a rustling sound came from the mouth of the cave, and Ness's heart suddenly tightened, and fear took over her heart, and even her voice trembled. "Fern, Stan, is that you? Come in......" The voice outside the cave didn't respond to her, but seemed to continue to be busy with something, squirming incessantly.

Ness tried to climb to the entrance of the cave and lift the curtain to see who was outside, or what was outside, but she didn't have the courage to do so. The mage clung to the cave wall, leaning against Rui, who was still unconscious, and his whole body trembled. "Fern, Stan, don't scare me, come in!" Just saying this sentence used up almost all of Ness's courage, but there was still no response from the hole, and to Ness's horror, this time, even the squirming sound was gone, which indicated that at any moment in the future, the person or thing at the mouth of the cave could rush in at any time.

In the darkness, Ness endured the suffocating moment, her hands clutching her clasp of her cloak, trying to restrain her trembling, but fear consumed her, tears seeping from the corners of her eyes and across her cheeks. Fern, where are you, I'm so scared...... I'm so sorry ....... The last helpless call that came to Ness's mind was only half a sentence, and then, a strange sensation took over the mage's brain, and she lost consciousness, tilted to the left, and fell on top of Rui.